I recently wrote a story for the Express-News’ Spurs Nation magazine — third in a three-piece installment — on Kawhi Leonard’s development from a draft-day gamble into a potential All-Star. For that story, I conducted extensive interviews with the Spurs’ player-development coaches, Chip Engelland and Chad Forcier.

Engelland, 56, is the team’s shooting coach. Forcier, 42, is responsible for other aspects of a player’s development. Both have been instrumental in growing Leonard’s game.

What follows is a complete Q&A with Engelland:

Tell me about your first dealings with Kawhi Leonard?

Chip Engelland: “I guess we can start from the beginning, before the draft. I walked into pre-draft camp, and Kawhi wasn’t scheduled to work out. He was getting tested. Some of the players will take a few shots, just because there are baskets there. I evaluate shooters for the draft. A lot of them, I have to watch on film. It’s nice when you get to watch it in person. I happened to walk in, and he happened to take shots literally right when I walked in. I got to see it in person. We all talked (as a staff). I felt his shot didn’t need a full makeover. With just a tune-up, he could become a very good shooter, if not great shooter.”

Are there ever guys you take one look and say, ‘This shot is broken, it’s not worth the time?’

Engelland: “What helped with Kawhi … the previous year, Richard Jefferson, we had changed his shot. He had a similar shot, behind his head. The draft happened and Kawhi comes here, and we have to talk to him. A shot’s very personal. It’s not easy to change your shot. We came up with a couple things, and he was all ears. He wants to get better. We saw that right away. He was very interested in improving. I showed him pictures of Richard, and pictures of himself. They both had this (mimics the behind-the-head form). Richard was 30 years old when he changed his shot. We thought Kawhi could change, too. And then we used Kobe Bryant. We both grew up in Southern California. He grew up watching Kobe play. Kobe has a beautiful form, technically really sound. We used him as a model – that release point and shot. Those four days, he practiced and said, OK I’m going to take this and do it over the summer.”

And of course, the lockout hits a week after he’s drafted, and you’re not going to be able to help at all during that time. So you send him off with what instructions?

Engelland: “Just to be patient, not get too down. Don’t try to push it out to the 3-point line at first. I remember the first year here, he was just getting comfortable on the wings. You don’t want to rush and try to get results in one day. He has that way about him. He will work hard over a long period of time for a goal. He’s a throwback in the way that he doesn’t need immediate satisfaction. He knew the benefits would be down the road.”

At this point, you really have no idea what Leonard is like personally. You don’t know if he’s really going to work over the summer, or scrap the new form or what.

Engelland: “We knew when he came back, how much it had stuck with him and he took it to heart. That was a nice statement for him.”

He didn’t shoot a high percentage from 3 in college, and that was a shorter distance. Was there any concern about his 3-point shooting entering the pros?

Engelland: “I went back and looked at his high school stuff. He shot more in high school. So we talked about it. In college, he stayed near the basket, although he was a good ball-handler. You play within your team’s structure. He does whatever the coach tells him to.”

So you get his form where you want it. Is that something that is continually tweaked throughout his first year, and down the line?

Engelland: “At a certain point in anybody’s rookie season, you back off and let him learn the league, learn the Spurs. He had so much to learn, him and Cory Joseph both. They didn’t get training camp. No Summer League. No open gym, which is a month. They were behind. But he came in with it looking solid. He just needed it to be honed in games, and because of the lockout there aren’t many games. He just needed game experience and practice experience. And he’s still getting better as a shooter. It’s something he works at really hard.”

What is his psychological makeup like as a shooter? He missed a big free throw, for example, in the 2013 Finals. Does he bounce back quickly from setbacks?

Engelland: “I think you learn from those things. The next time you’re thrown into those tests, you’re better. And I think he did. You get to know your shot better. We talked about it. At some point, it becomes yours. At first, he’s learning something and changing it. At some point, it becomes his. The ultimate goal in my job is for the player to be their own shooting coach, but in the right way. If Tony (Parker) or Kawhi comes over to me, they can say, ‘I didn’t follow through on those two.’ That’s music to my ears. That’s what evolves once you get to know yourself well.”

Once you start adding other pieces to his game – drives and post-ups and turnaround jumpers, etc – do you ever have to come back to the shooting form, to make sure there’s no slippage?

Engelland: “When I worked with Grant Hill many moons ago, the next step is when to do what. He had a lot of different skills. When to post, when to do the turnaround, when to do the jump-hook, when to shoot the 3, and when to drive. Mixing is the hardest thing. It’s like a great pitcher – when do I throw the curve, or the change-up. It’s very tough. That takes years and years of honing, in games.”

Is that the point in the project where Kawhi is right now?

Engelland: “Just how to mix – when to drive, when to mix, when to pass, when to shoot again, when to post up. That all just takes time and experience. Because you have to do all that within your team game. You can’t just run roughshod over your teammates to try to do that. It’s tough because he’s testing things. I think his scoring average has gone up each year – not by 10 points, but 2 or 3 points each year. Just nice, solid incremental improvement.”

Did you know you were getting a player this dedicated when the Spurs drafted him?

Engelland: “On a lot of drafts, you hear somebody is a gym rat, loves the gym. That’s in college or in high school. Then they come to the pros and have a lot of different options in life. One of my great compliments to Kawhi is, even after four years, he still loves the gym. You’ve got to pull him out of the gym. He always wants more shots. He had a great focus, beyond his years.”

Is he the one who will come to you and say, ‘I want to get shots up’ or is it the other way around? Or is it a little of both? How does that work?

Engelland: “We know what he likes. I think we did one different thing this summer. Instead of going to the gym three times a day this summer, I think he only went twice a day. That’s not a joke. He’s in San Diego, every day is perfect, and instead of three, he only goes to the gym twice. He backed off some, because he knew he had a long season ahead.”